SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

School of Law

Comparative constitutional law

Course Code:

15PLAC152

Unit value:

1

Taught in:

Full Year

This course introduces students to the rich diversity of constitutional law in the world today, aiming at a better understanding of the working of constitutions and of the work constitutions do in different political, socio-economic settings and historical periods. What constitutions are, what makes constitutions different, how constitutional ideas migrate, as well as the larger global processes which structure constitutional law in each country are some of the themes of this course.

As a starting point, students will study the conceptual and theoretical foundations of constitutional law from a comparative perspective. By explicating the basic elements of constitutional theory across time and space, term one seeks to expose the distinctive methods and tasks of comparative constitutional law. In the process, the course will explore and compare:

• Constituent Power, 
• Sovereignty, 
• Representation, 
• Rule of Law, 
• Emergency, 
• Federalism, 
• Rights and Rights Revolutions, 
• the Politics of Recognition, 
• Constitutional Discourses 
• Adjudication.

Term two deals with specific thematic issues and locates the theoretical debates of the first term in their practical setting. The second part of the course is thus concerned with the ways in which ‘similar’ topics of constitutional law are understood, negotiated, and produced differently by different actors in and around different constitutional systems. It will also consider the social and political functions performed by constitutional law, and how groups and individuals operate within and against constitutionalism. The second part of the course thus adopts a micro-perspective, testing the structures of comparative constitutional law in the context of constitutional particularities: 

• Public vs. Private, 
• Public Choice and Constitutional Economics, 
• Right to Property, 
• Soviet and Post-Socialist Constitutionalism, 
• Post-Colonial Constitutionalism, 
• Secularism and Constitutional Faith, 
• Due Process,
• Equality and Affirmative Action, 
• Abortion, 
• Same-Sex Marriage, 
• Juristocracy, 
• European Union Constitution,
• Cosmopolitan Policy: World Constitutionalism 
• Capital Punishment and Euthanasia
• Animal Rights

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

The aims of this course are:

1. to introduce students to the methods and purposes of comparative public law;
2. to provide knowledge of the nature of constitutions of a variety of countries and the ways in which, through the medium of law, the powers of government are allocated differently amongst the various institutions of different states;
3. to explain how, through the agency of judges, governmental decision-making is rendered subject to law, and how constitutional judicial review varies across time and space;
4. to inculcate analytical and research skills;
5. to encourage reflection on the role of constitutional law in regulating the exercise of public power in contemporary society.

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Distinguish between competing perspectives on constitutional law;
2. Examine contemporary constitutional law problems in diverse historical, political, sociological contexts;
3. Critically compare different constitutional designs and understand how the working of specific constitutional provisions is embedded within larger socio-legal frameworks and influenced by numerous agencies (e.g. political parties and elections, patterns of resource distribution, culture and history, or simple institutional self-interest);
4. Illustrate this understanding through the use of specific case studies, empirical evidence and by conducting independent research with particular emphasis on constitutional theory and comparative approaches to constitutional law.

 

 

Method of assessment

Assessment Weighting: 50% unseen written examination and two 4000 word essays worth 25% each

Suggested reading

Convenors

• Alexander Fischer

Degree/programme offered on

• LLM in Law, Culture and Society
• LLM in Law, Development and Governance
• MA in Law, Culture and Society
• MA in Law, Development and Globalisation

• SOAS LLM Courses
• MA Courses